We recommend that you think beyond the box—or the school—when it comes to implementing character education. There are many non-school settings where a character education curriculum would be welcomed, such as youth clubs, after school programs, Scout groups, etc. This Section will cover a few possibilities to educate for character in non-traditional educational settings.
In essence, any situation where there is a gathering of children or adolescents may be an appropriate venue for character education. Each of these situations presents an opportunity for teaching a moral lesson.
Home Schooling
A curriculum such as Discovering the Real Me could be used as home study material for parents and their children. Parents are the first moral teachers and examples for their children. However, with their busy schedules or lack of expertise, many parents do not have the time or confidence to guide their children well on moral matters. This material can be a great aid to them in their efforts to raise children of virtue.
A character educator activist might check into local homeschooling networks in their area in order to present the materials at a meeting. Some homeschooling networks have “curriculum fairs” and it might be possible to bring Discovering the Real Me to such a fair.
Homeschoolers are to be found all over and in all different settings: rural, urban, suburban, and small towns. There is a wide variety among homeschoolers these days. The book Teach Your Own by John Holt has addresses of some homeschooling networks and newsletter information. Well over one million children are being homeschooled in the United States. That is a large potential market for character education materials.
Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts
There are large national groups that might be amenable to a character education segment. Groups like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are often looking for adults to take leadership roles. Part of the scouting experience could be character education. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were founded to train leaders, which necessarily means encouraging Scouts to take responsibility, uphold honor, and other aspects of character. These organizations have pledges and codes of behavior that Scouts are supposed to live up to. The Scouts have always done character education.
4-H Clubs
Another group founded to help young people become leaders and people of good character is 4-H: “a community of young people across America who are learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills”. 4-H is usually administered through cooperative extension offices of state land-grant universities. The four Hs stand for heart, head, hands, and health. It is easily seen that these goals fit in well with a “head, heart, hands” model of character education. What is more, the Discovering the Real Me curriculum emphasizes training in leadership, citizenship, and life skills.
Character education seems a natural fit for many of 4-H’s goals. The 4-H Pledge reads: “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living for my club, my community, my country, and my world.” The similarity between the themes of this character education initiative and this pledge are readily seen. A booklet produced by 4-H, “How to Start a 4-H Club,” outlines six steps to forming a 4-H Club.[[#_ftn1|[1]]]
YMCA/YWCA
Another large national and international group that might be interested in character education is the YMCA or YWCA. America’s 2,663 YMCAs serve more than 20.2 million people each year. It is the nation’s largest provider of childcare.
The YMCA states as the values its holds: caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. The YMCA exists to aid in “building healthy spirit, mind and body for all.” Another stated goal is to help children deepen positive values, their commitment to service, and their motivation to learn.
These values have clear character education content, making the mission of character educators and the YMCA compatible. Volunteers are welcomed at YMCA and YWCAs around the country and around the world. Part of volunteering may be reading to children or supervising them in after school activities. Since the YMCA has interests in training teens in leadership and in strengthening families, the Discovering the Real Me curriculum could be a real asset to their programs. It might be worth inquiring or even volunteering for a time at a local YMCA or YWCA to find out if there is an opening for a character education program.
Law Enforcement
Another possible venue is through law enforcement. Some corrections officers have expressed interest in Discovering the Real Me both for inmates of correctional facilities and for people in half-way houses who are trying to assimilate back into society. Discovering the Real Me would be even more appropriate for programs for juvenile offenders.
Summer Camps
Summer camps are a fine way to introduce character and character education into the lives of children.
In the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, a five-day summer day camp was held at the Vide Bouteille School in Castries, the capital city. Set up by a former Chief Education Officer for St. Lucia, who is a UPF Ambassador for Peace, the summer camp was co-sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Culture of St. Lucia, CARICOM (the Caribbean Community Secretariat) and the Universal Peace Federation. The theme of this particular camp was “Fighting HIV/AIDS Through Character Building”—an important topic in the Caribbean, where HIV/AIDS infection rates are skyrocketing to the highest in the world outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Forty students attended this camp, which included studying Discovering the Real Me, a clean-up and painting project, a neighborhood trash-pick-up drive, as well as sports, crafts, entertainment, and lots of sharing among friends.
In Belize, interns worked with such groups as Youth Enhancement Services, Career Enhancement Training, the YWCA, and the Salvation Army School to reach out to students. Young interns were delighted to find that their students were extremely receptive—even enthusiastic—about receiving the messages of character education.
A five-day summer day camp was held in St. Vincent with funding aid from the World Bank and the St. Vincent Ministry of Education. Working with the HIV/AIDS Curriculum Development Unit of the Ministry of Education, the summer camp had students from ages twelve to age eighteen. This camp had a special emphasis on entertainment—the Washington AIDS International Teens (WAIT) came and performed music, dance, and drama, and one of the local campers, Glenroy John, sang a song he had written that had won him an award in the island’s 2006 HIV/AIDS songwriting context. Said one who was there: “I feel great wonder at the transforming effect a five-day experience can bring about. The fact that we achieved such a feeling of oneness and joy over the course of such a short time gives great hope for what can be accomplished through ongoing programs.”
There was a two-week summer camp held in Pohnpei, Micronesia as well. Each day they noticed that the number of students who participated was gradually increasing as word spread to friends about the enjoyable activities, interesting times, and valuable insights available at the character education summer camp.
In many cases in the summer camps, staff noticed that students would arrive early to the camps, just to be there and also to help set up and clean up voluntarily. Students expressed genuine interest in and appreciation for the life lessons they were learning at the camps.
Children in all kinds of settings will be informed and interested by character education. This is especially true in areas where there are underprivileged children. Not only do character educators give them valuable and important information on how to better their lives through the life skills and good attitudes taught; the children feel cared for by such interventions.
Key Points
· There are many non-school venues that are already interested in character education. · Among them are homeschoolers, Boy and Girls Scouts, 4-H, the YMCA and the YWCA, and summer camps. · Many such organizations welcome volunteers to lead groups of young people. · Volunteering is an excellent way to be able to serve young people and their parents through character education.
Training Exercise A
Draft up, alone or in a group, a statement of purpose, a name, and a simple constitution for a 4-H type or other character education club group. List activities the group might do.
Training Exercise B
In small groups, compose a Character Education song or “beat” complete with lyrics that might characterize a non-school type group. Each group should then perform their song or beat for the larger group as a whole.
[[#_ftnref|[1]]] Keith G. Diem, Ph.D., Affiliate Extension Specialist in Educational Design, “How to Start a 4-H Club”, 4-H Leader Training Series (Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, New Jersey: 1990, revised 2000).
Table of Contents
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We recommend that you think beyond the box—or the school—when it comes to implementing character education. There are many non-school settings where a character education curriculum would be welcomed, such as youth clubs, after school programs, Scout groups, etc. This Section will cover a few possibilities to educate for character in non-traditional educational settings.
In essence, any situation where there is a gathering of children or adolescents may be an appropriate venue for character education. Each of these situations presents an opportunity for teaching a moral lesson.
Home Schooling
A curriculum such as Discovering the Real Me could be used as home study material for parents and their children. Parents are the first moral teachers and examples for their children. However, with their busy schedules or lack of expertise, many parents do not have the time or confidence to guide their children well on moral matters. This material can be a great aid to them in their efforts to raise children of virtue.A character educator activist might check into local homeschooling networks in their area in order to present the materials at a meeting. Some homeschooling networks have “curriculum fairs” and it might be possible to bring Discovering the Real Me to such a fair.
Homeschoolers are to be found all over and in all different settings: rural, urban, suburban, and small towns. There is a wide variety among homeschoolers these days. The book Teach Your Own by John Holt has addresses of some homeschooling networks and newsletter information. Well over one million children are being homeschooled in the United States. That is a large potential market for character education materials.
Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts
There are large national groups that might be amenable to a character education segment. Groups like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are often looking for adults to take leadership roles. Part of the scouting experience could be character education. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were founded to train leaders, which necessarily means encouraging Scouts to take responsibility, uphold honor, and other aspects of character. These organizations have pledges and codes of behavior that Scouts are supposed to live up to. The Scouts have always done character education.4-H Clubs
Another group founded to help young people become leaders and people of good character is 4-H: “a community of young people across America who are learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills”. 4-H is usually administered through cooperative extension offices of state land-grant universities. The four Hs stand for heart, head, hands, and health. It is easily seen that these goals fit in well with a “head, heart, hands” model of character education. What is more, the Discovering the Real Me curriculum emphasizes training in leadership, citizenship, and life skills.Character education seems a natural fit for many of 4-H’s goals. The 4-H Pledge reads: “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living for my club, my community, my country, and my world.” The similarity between the themes of this character education initiative and this pledge are readily seen. A booklet produced by 4-H, “How to Start a 4-H Club,” outlines six steps to forming a 4-H Club.[[#_ftn1|[1]]]
YMCA/YWCA
Another large national and international group that might be interested in character education is the YMCA or YWCA. America’s 2,663 YMCAs serve more than 20.2 million people each year. It is the nation’s largest provider of childcare.The YMCA states as the values its holds: caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. The YMCA exists to aid in “building healthy spirit, mind and body for all.” Another stated goal is to help children deepen positive values, their commitment to service, and their motivation to learn.
These values have clear character education content, making the mission of character educators and the YMCA compatible. Volunteers are welcomed at YMCA and YWCAs around the country and around the world. Part of volunteering may be reading to children or supervising them in after school activities. Since the YMCA has interests in training teens in leadership and in strengthening families, the Discovering the Real Me curriculum could be a real asset to their programs. It might be worth inquiring or even volunteering for a time at a local YMCA or YWCA to find out if there is an opening for a character education program.
Law Enforcement
Another possible venue is through law enforcement. Some corrections officers have expressed interest in Discovering the Real Me both for inmates of correctional facilities and for people in half-way houses who are trying to assimilate back into society. Discovering the Real Me would be even more appropriate for programs for juvenile offenders.Summer Camps
Summer camps are a fine way to introduce character and character education into the lives of children.In the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, a five-day summer day camp was held at the Vide Bouteille School in Castries, the capital city. Set up by a former Chief Education Officer for St. Lucia, who is a UPF Ambassador for Peace, the summer camp was co-sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Culture of St. Lucia, CARICOM (the Caribbean Community Secretariat) and the Universal Peace Federation. The theme of this particular camp was “Fighting HIV/AIDS Through Character Building”—an important topic in the Caribbean, where HIV/AIDS infection rates are skyrocketing to the highest in the world outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Forty students attended this camp, which included studying Discovering the Real Me, a clean-up and painting project, a neighborhood trash-pick-up drive, as well as sports, crafts, entertainment, and lots of sharing among friends.
In Belize, interns worked with such groups as Youth Enhancement Services, Career Enhancement Training, the YWCA, and the Salvation Army School to reach out to students. Young interns were delighted to find that their students were extremely receptive—even enthusiastic—about receiving the messages of character education.
A five-day summer day camp was held in St. Vincent with funding aid from the World Bank and the St. Vincent Ministry of Education. Working with the HIV/AIDS Curriculum Development Unit of the Ministry of Education, the summer camp had students from ages twelve to age eighteen. This camp had a special emphasis on entertainment—the Washington AIDS International Teens (WAIT) came and performed music, dance, and drama, and one of the local campers, Glenroy John, sang a song he had written that had won him an award in the island’s 2006 HIV/AIDS songwriting context. Said one who was there: “I feel great wonder at the transforming effect a five-day experience can bring about. The fact that we achieved such a feeling of oneness and joy over the course of such a short time gives great hope for what can be accomplished through ongoing programs.”
There was a two-week summer camp held in Pohnpei, Micronesia as well. Each day they noticed that the number of students who participated was gradually increasing as word spread to friends about the enjoyable activities, interesting times, and valuable insights available at the character education summer camp.
In many cases in the summer camps, staff noticed that students would arrive early to the camps, just to be there and also to help set up and clean up voluntarily. Students expressed genuine interest in and appreciation for the life lessons they were learning at the camps.
Children in all kinds of settings will be informed and interested by character education. This is especially true in areas where there are underprivileged children. Not only do character educators give them valuable and important information on how to better their lives through the life skills and good attitudes taught; the children feel cared for by such interventions.
Key Points
· There are many non-school venues that are already interested in character education.· Among them are homeschoolers, Boy and Girls Scouts, 4-H, the YMCA and the YWCA, and summer camps.
· Many such organizations welcome volunteers to lead groups of young people.
· Volunteering is an excellent way to be able to serve young people and their parents through character education.
Training Exercise A
Draft up, alone or in a group, a statement of purpose, a name, and a simple constitution for a 4-H type or other character education club group. List activities the group might do.Training Exercise B
In small groups, compose a Character Education song or “beat” complete with lyrics that might characterize a non-school type group. Each group should then perform their song or beat for the larger group as a whole.[[#_ftnref|[1]]] Keith G. Diem, Ph.D., Affiliate Extension Specialist in Educational Design, “How to Start a 4-H Club”, 4-H Leader Training Series (Rutgers Cooperative Extension, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, New Jersey: 1990, revised 2000).